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Volume VI, Issue 2 October 2009 |
Quinsigamond
Community College |
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Staff Development Links
Staff
Development
Staff
Development
Erica Merrill
Staff Development
October's Events
Instructional Technology
Workshops for Faculty:
Reading
Roundtable
In accordance with the college's strategic initiative to optimize the use of technology for improved and cost-effective communication, this newsletter is being distributed electronically as the best means for information-sharing with faculty and staff. |
Editor: Erica Merrill We Can Always Improve by Beth O'Leary Anish Play: Where Learning Begins by Linda Witham, Renee Gould, Meghan Martin, and Nancy Knight
We Can
Always Improve Last week, I completed the “Seminar in College Teaching” course offered online through Clark University and the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. For years, I have been reading the announcements about this course on my staff e-mail and wishing I could take it. However, money and childcare issues always seemed to get in the way of my taking it. Now that the course is being offered online, and the Staff Development funds for adjunct faculty have been increased, I was finally able to take the course this summer. I have to say it was worth the wait, and the considerable time and effort that I put into it. The course has me thinking about my course objectives, assignments, and syllabi in a new, enlightened way. The course took place over six weeks this summer. For a 2-credit course, the workload was considerable. In the online version of the course, we were expected to contribute frequently to class discussion boards. There were some assigned readings, but more time-consuming were the several projects, such as video recording and critiquing our own teaching, developing a syllabus and set of instructional materials for one course, and designing a course website and an online teaching portfolio. I used English Composition and Literature I as the base of all my assignments, and I have improved my delivery of the course considerably by doing so. I am teaching the course in Summer II and I can already feel the difference, especially in my confidence in the classroom. I feel more in control of my assignments, because now I have thought through how each relates to my course objectives. I am able to communicate better with students my plan for the course and for each course meeting. One simple technique I have adopted is writing a checklist of learning objectives for the night on a side board in the classroom. I check off each objective as we complete it. This gives both me and the students a visual plan for what we will accomplish each night (in a 3+ hour summer course this is very helpful). I have also created grading rubrics for each of my individual assignments, something I had not done in the past. I realize now how important they are for students, and I hand them out with each assignment so they consider in advance what will make a successful paper. This reinforces what I have taught in class leading up to the paper assignment. Overall the “Seminar in College Teaching” was a practical way for me to improve my teaching by reconsidering the way I deliver my courses. This will benefit my students in many little ways. I feel more organized and more prepared when I walk into the classroom each day. I recommend this class to any faculty member looking to stop and think about why we do the things we do. It has made me realize that even good teachers can get better; there is always room for improvement. I am thankful for the Staff Development funds that made it possible for me to have this enriching experience.
Play: Where Learning Begins Four members of the Early Childhood Education Department and Children’s School (Renee Gould, Nancy Knight, Meghan Martin and Linda Witham) attended the National Association for the Education of Young Children Professional Development Conference from June 13-17, 2009. This conference, “Play: Where Learning Begins”, was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The keynote speaker, Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant, set the tone of the conference by stressing the value of play in the development of healthy children with a predisposition for learning. Throughout the conference, we heard about how the strenuous standardized testing and academic curriculum are seeping into kindergarten and hindering the young child’s natural abilities for self regulation, internal motivation toward learning and social interactions. The tendency to focus on “passing the test” has curtailed the child’s ability to “learn how to learn” (Diane Trister Doge, 6/15/09, NAEYC Professional Development Conference). This tendency toward standardized testing is threatening not only children in kindergarten; it is filtering down into preschool classrooms as well, taking the focus away from play (where it belongs) and putting it more on academic learning that may be above and beyond the developmental abilities of very young children. Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play, a report from the Alliance of Childhood, written by Edward Miller and Joan Almon, and released in March of this year, informs us that kindergarten has changed radically over the past two decades. This report states that two to three hours per day of literacy and math instructions and testing is the norm. Of that, 20-30 minutes per day of standardized testing and test preparation is included. Less than 30 minutes per day, and often no time at all, is left for play of the child’s choice (Edward Miller, 6/16/09, NAEYC Professional Development Conference). Long-term studies suggest that the early gains of this kind of learning fade away by fourth grade, and that by age 10, children in play-based kindergartens excel over others in reading, math, social and emotional learning, creativity and oral expression. Didactic teaching, with a focus on academic curriculum, geared toward passing standardized tests, so that “no child is left behind”, have greatly contributed to stress and anxiety and in fact have jeopardized the healthy development of many young children. In particular, this conference focused on the impact that this type of learning is having on the experiences of young boys in school. A session entitled Rough and Tumble Play 101 stressed the importance of vigorous, physical play in the early childhood curriculum. This kind of movement is key to brain development and should be an integral part of any early childhood curriculum. Studies have shown that children learn better after participating in this type of active play (Marjorie Fields and Sara McCormick Davis, 6/15/09, NAEYC Professional Development Conference). For decades, early childhood educators have valued the many developmental contributions of high-level play that emerges in young children, if given the opportunity to do so. Too quickly, we are forgetting this and are devaluing the natural inclinations of childhood. In an effort to make it better and to learn it quicker, we forget the “child” in childhood. The act of playing, when one child engages with another child face-to-face, gives each child the opportunity to practice life skills, and to problem-solve both on the cognitive level and the social/emotional level. Coping strategies for life emerge at an early age. If the early years are too focused on “getting the right answer”, we set the child up for a lifetime of stress and limited opportunities. Moreover, when play is not at the center, we take away the child’s opportunity to “learn how to learn”. This process is key to developing passionate, enthusiastic learners who are willing to take risks and to be responsible for their own learning. No one at the conference suggested that in a play-based curriculum, “anything goes”. In fact, that misunderstanding may have contributed to the current thrust to eliminate playtime in the preschool and kindergarten. Those working with young children must be well-informed about the developmental nature of the child. They must be keen observers, factual recorders and possess the ability to interpret the child’s behavior accurately based on their observations. They must be skilled at facilitating play experiences and extending children’s learning as fully as possible during the play process. This is not equivalent to baby sitting! It requires skills, practice and a devotion to understanding the true nature of the child. The Early Childhood Education at Quinsigamond Community College is devoted to producing teachers with these abilities and this conference just reinforced our determination.
© Staff Development, Quinsigamond Community College 2009. |